"Amazon" Watches
Okay, I'm all for affordable watches that don't look like "affordable" watches. We all love Casio and Timex and Seiko and the like because they offer tremendous quality for their price and they look the part! But these Amazon brands like OLEVS, Berny (maybe? I hear they are not a Chinese drop ship watch but they could fool me), MEGIR, and Benyar are at first glance exactly that, but I have a feeling that these are only cheap, not quality. In that, it is a conundrum because it helps expand the industry by roping in folks who otherwise wouldn't have spent any money on a watch. But since these are so affordable and look as decent as they do, they decide to buy. But someone who doesn't know about watches and someone who wouldn't dish out 800 bucks for a watch that they don't even know they're going to like or enjoy wearing... You can see the utility of these watches, not as watches at all... But a lasso
Let me know your thoughts!!! Do these brands have a place? Or should they go?
I love watches, comics, fantasy, sci-fi, science fantasy and am starting to bike/lift weights/get fit!
All 4 of the brands you show here are available on AliExpress for quite a bit less than Amazon are charging.
These are cheap watches. Go to aliexpress, I like Pagani design and san martin. Affordable and good.
The idea of cheap small item shipments from China was too much for Amazon to ignore. But in this case you might want to go directly to the source, which is AliExpress. (Even though their search functionality is horrible, and their customization engine still thinks I'm a black woman who wants to pay with rubles.)
Most people I assume read the reviews. They tell you all you need to know about the watches and the people buying them. 🤷
I bought a Winner, which was the cheapest automatic watch available on Amazon at the time. It was the first mechanical time piece I'd had in over twenty years. It looked surprisingly good, kept decent time, and had crap power reserve. The water resistance was horribly overstated as it never met water to my knowledge but developed interior condensation nonetheless.
So I think this sort of thing is great as it lets people that want to dabble with mechanical watches find out that they are a big hassle for little money. Sadly it doesn't deter everyone, as I am evidence.
I agree with all the comments above. The pictures you have showcase are all cheaper steel material. I believe those are alloy materials which will fade and turn green in color quick time. I just posted a 5 daily beater watch collection which is affordable value for monies, great quality, reliable automatic movements and built with 316L stainless steel material. There is a place and market for these watches. You just have to know where to go and find the best deals. Amazon isn't the best place for these type of watches.
Steeldive 1957 NTTD 007 = $120 CDN Phylida ST19 Speed Master = $200 CDN Loreo ST16 Submariner = $75 CDN Tisell Submersible No Date = $300 CDN Pagani Design GMT Batman = $86 CDN
I have 6 automatics, topping out at about $2000, none of them keep time more accurately than a Heimdallr “Willard” clone that I bought on sale for $112. You’ll probably get burned once or twice before you learn the brands and purveyors you can trust (relatively speaking at least), but there’s decent stuff out there in terms of looks, specs, and overall quality. I’ve been happy with watches I’ve gotten from Heimdallr, Baltany, and Boderry (which I’m wearing right now), and there’s probably a San Martin in my mid-term future.
More than 10 years ago, I had discovered these Chinese gems for me. I think Pagani was not even existent. Parnis and Corgeut had strong listings on ebay. Great stuff for around 50 €/$. The reason why I liked them was the design. I couldn‘t afford a IWC so I grabbed a Parnis Flieger, same for other models, mostly copied the style from Breitling or IWC. Omega wasn‘t that famous so no Omega copies :). It was the start into the world of mechanical movements for me. Started from there, I made my first step into the Swiss world with Tissot and continued my mechanical game with Seiko (of course SKX) well after probably hundreds of other brands and genres, I experienced the game and learned a lot. Today I can say that I needed those first steps to reach the collection that I have today. But considering my experience today I would not buy one of those Chinese specials again. The reason is that within my experience I have discovered also the value of the brand, the history that you are wearing on your wrist. A Pagani has no soul and even when a Casio lacks in quality, you kind of wear something from a brand who dedicated their history into making watches. I think the whole watch game should be more relaxed about quality. Don‘t forget that also a 100.000$ watch can have 30m water resistance. So it is probably something else that let people pay for that.